FAO and WHO reconvened a third meeting to review and evaluate the evidence in support of precautionary allergen labelling to address unintended allergen presence in foods. The Expert Committee at the third meeting reviewed the data on the current status and uses of the precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) and unanimously agreed that current PAL systems used in many countries needed to be improved as they were neither uniform nor informative and were not consistently risk based on amount and frequency of UAP found in food products. The Expert Committee also found that current PAL approaches led to widespread PAL that diminished information and value for consumers. The Expert Committee reviewed again the principles and basis of RfD from the second meeting and reached a consensus that the RfD for each priority allergen, as described by the HBGV and safety objectives, was a valid risk assessment endpoint for determining when sporadic or unexpected UAP posed more than appreciable risk to consumers and needed to be communicated to consumers by PAL.

In Part 2 of the Ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens, reference doses (RfDs) were recommended for the global priority allergens, which included: walnut (and pecan), cashew (and pistachio), almond, peanut, egg, hazelnut, wheat, fish, shrimp, milk and sesame. Still, RfDs were not recommended for a number of regional or national priority allergens as they did not meet the criteria to be global priority allergens. In an additional request, the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) indicated interest in potential RfD derivation for the following specific food allergens: specific tree nuts (Brazil nut, macadamia nut or Queensland nut, pine nut), soy, celery, lupin, mustard, buckwheat, and oats. An overview of the available data and recommended RfDs (or reasons no RfD could be derived) are given here for these specific food allergens. These RfDs were derived following the guidelines described in Part 2 of the Ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation for deriving an RfD for priority allergenic foods. Details of the available data and discussions of the Expert Committee are presented in this report.

The Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) requested scientific advice as to whether certain foods and ingredients, such as highly refined foods and ingredients, that are derived from the list of foods known to cause hypersensitivity can be exempted from mandatory declaration. The objective of this fourth meeting was to expand on the recommendations from the first meeting concerning derivatives of food allergens and establish a framework for evaluating exemptions for food allergens. A pro forma process has been developed and tested against allergen derivatives previously granted exemptions in various countries or regions and found to be effective for consideration in future exemption decisions. The Expert Committee recommends that the process outlined in the pro forma process be used to guide any future development and evaluation of derivative exemptions. Establishment of safety based upon this weight of evidence approach is dependent upon consideration of data quality, outcome of the exposure assessment for all intended ingredient uses (specified for exemption), and review by competent authorities (as needed). When safety is established, exemption can be justified.

The labelling of food allergens in pre-packaged foods plays a key role in protecting food allergic individuals, as no preventative clinical treatment is currently available. The list of major foods and ingredients known to cause hypersensitivity was included into the Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Packaged Foods (GSLPF) in 1999. There have been many scientific developments in the understanding of food allergens and their management since the original drafting of the GSLPF. Thus, in response to the request from Codex for scientific advice, including current evidence of consumer understanding of allergens, FAO and WHO convened a series of three expert meetings to provide scientific advice on this subject. The purpose of the first meeting of the Ad hoc Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Assessment of Food Allergens was to review and validate the Codex priority allergen list through risk assessment. This report focuses on the deliberations and conclusions of this meeting.